Have you ever thought about western notation as a component of music composition? What’s going on as this series of shapes, lines and descriptive text is placed on the specialized matrix of lines? Several themes are suggested by this idea, but the one for consideration here is quite simple. Notation gives a composer extensive control over massive media forces. Interesting because no other performance medium supports a system by which the author (composer) has such detailed control. Computers allow even higher levels of control in multiple media types and multimedia creation platforms. Notation software allows the power of the system straight to the medium of production (by passing the performer), a midi file being a simple example.
That connections between composers and computers often run deeper than notation software is of no surprise. If notation is understood as media control, then the control offered by a computer is a natural extension. This explains my own interest in multimedia arts I think. With so many mediums to control, why would I limit myself to just the noise part of a project?
